A new collaborative study from a team led by Tiffany Caza, M.D., renal pathologist at Arkana Laboratories, and Dorin Bogdan Borza, Ph.D., an Associate Professor at Meharry Medical College School of Medicine, has been published in Kidney International, the leading journal in kidney research.
The study, entitled “Detection and Characterization of NELL1 Autoantibodies in NELL1 Positive Membranous Nephropathy,” brings hope for improved diagnosis and monitoring of a serious kidney condition called membranous nephropathy (MN). Membranous nephropathy (MN) is a disease where the immune system mistakenly attacks the kidneys, causing large amounts of protein to leak into the urine.
One of the proteins mistakenly targeted in MN is called NELL1, which is the second most common target in this disease.
The research team has developed two new lab tests that can detect whether NELL1 antibodies are present and in what amount. These tests may be useful in clinical practice to allow non-invasive monitoring of treatment response in these patients.
Dr. Borza likens this research study to solving a hard puzzle.
“In the words of Nobel Prize Laureate Albert von Szent-Györgyi, ‘Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen, and thinking what nobody thought.’ While much research follows the beaten path, every once in a while, the opportunity arises to make a genuine breakthrough discovery. When that happens, knowing that you are the only person in the world who possesses that novel insight or piece of knowledge is enthralling,” said Borza.
He also expressed deep appreciation for his collaborators at Meharry Medical College.
“Dr. Brock Arivett, a postdoctoral fellow in my lab, contributed significantly to this research. Also, access to state-of-the-art instrumentation in the Meharry RCMI Research Capacity Core Lab, which was supported by an RCMI Center Grant, was extremely helpful,” he said.
Read the team’s study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40541723/
Written by Brandon Marshall, Communications Director of the School of Medicine.
